[/media-credit] In “Zayde Comes To Live,” a little girl finds learns how to help her aged grandfather as he struggles with his memory

The title “Zayde Comes to Live,” the name of Sheri Sinkin’s sensitive picture book about a grandfather in failing health, needs a qualifier. Yes, Zayde has come to live with Rachel’s family; he also has come to die in their arms.

“No one says this, but I know from what they do not say,” Rachel announces. Her grandfather, tethered to oxygen, watches Rachel and the rest of his limited world from a sleeper-chair. Rabbi Lev explains what will happen after Zayde’s last breath: “His energy will live on with your ancestors in the World To Come, what we call the Olam Ha-Ba.”

Luckily for Rachel, Zayde is gentle and mostly self-aware. His health fades like a rose dropping its pedals. (It would be a very different story if Zayde, like some grandfathers, no longer know who she was, or railed against his lot — realities for little girls whose grandfathers are treated less kindly by their dementia.)

What she learns from her Zayde is the importance of reeling in memories — the time he sewed his bridegroom son’s ripped trousers, the snow angel he made with his granddaughter — and making new memories together in the waning days of his life.